


Through Dull Green Eyes

by thatdamnuchiha



Series: Three Views [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Abuse, Child Abuse, Childhood Friends, Childhood Trauma, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Families of Choice, Family, Friendship, Gen, Generation Swap, Haruno Sakura Needs a Hug, Haruno Sakura-centric, Hurt/Comfort, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Kakashi was the Second, Madara is Sasuke's (awesome) Cousin, Mokuton, Mokuton Sakura, Mokuton User Haruno Sakura, Naive Uzumaki Naruto, Namikaze Minato Lives, Naruto and Sasuke to the Rescue, No Uchiha Massacre, Obito was the First Hokage, POV Haruno Sakura, Perceptive Uchiha Sasuke, Plots, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre-Canon, Protective Uchiha Itachi, Protective Uchiha Sasuke, Protective Uzumaki Naruto, Revenge, Sakura Does Not Have A Good Childhood, Sakura has issues, Tobirama Teaches at the Academy, Uchiha Itachi Being a Good Brother, Uchiha Shisui Lives, Uzumaki Kushina Lives
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-11
Packaged: 2020-09-28 00:01:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20416526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatdamnuchiha/pseuds/thatdamnuchiha
Summary: Haruno Sakura was quiet, withdrawn, and book smart. That was what the entirety of the class knew about her. She didn’t have friends – some said she was too snobbish to, despite coming from a civilian family. She looked on at the world through dull green eyes, taking everything in with an odd distance as she attended the academy. Her physical scores weren’t all that impressive, though she could definitely take a beating. In fact, her pain tolerance was incredible. Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei told her it was a good thing, and that it’d be very beneficial for her career. Some people were just born with a high pain threshold, while others gained one over time.Too bad they never asked which type she was.





	1. Perfect

**Author's Note:**

> Sakura's POV is finally here... and when I say finally... meh. Anywho, this is not a oneshot and will be a full length fanfic, which should hopefully be less fluffy and humourous than my other fics. It'll lean more to the serious side of the spectrum.
> 
> Because for some reason I tend to write a lot of crack/humour-based fics, and this isn't like those...
> 
> I've also replaced the canon Sakura's parents - ie they have different names. They aren't Mebuki and Kizashi, because I've changed their circumstances and personalities a lot, and I can't comfortably call them that, because the Haruno's are great parents, or at least good ones in canon from what I can tell.
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoy, and happy reading.

_Smile. _

Sakura smiled as the voice rang through her mind – the voice of her stepmother, reminding her of one of the crucial rules of the Haruno Household. Always smile, _because if she didn’t smile, then it meant something was wrong and people would investigate. _As her mother liked to remind her, investigations weren’t allowed, because they were the perfect family, and perfect families never had anything wrong with them. That was why they were perfect. So she smiled, hiding the distant glaze in her eyes whenever she thought about her perfect family.

She wasn’t entirely sure when she realised it, _but her family wasn’t perfect. _She’d peered through enough windows to be able to tell that. Other children didn’t have to hide in places small and unreachable when their parents were drunk, nor did they get dragged and locked down in the basement when accidents happened. _They apologised, and their parents accepted that and told them what not to do. That was far better than the pain she experienced. _Confusion had made her open her mouth, but she’d soon learnt not to speak of what other families did.

_Sharp red nails dug into her scalp, the voice in her ear hissing with enough force to make her flinch even if her scratching nails didn’t. Voices were more scary. “Those other families aren’t ours,” her stepmother hissed. “Only bad girls aren’t grateful for what they have, and you aren’t a bad girl, are you?” A hand stroked her cheek gently, those same bright red nails scraping across her face. “You’re a good girl, aren’t you?”_

_“Yes, Okaa-sama,” she whispered. “I’m a good girl.”_

_“And what don’t good girls do?”_

_She smiled widely, relief flooding through her at the approving look her stepmother gave her. “Good girls don’t look at other families. Good girls are grateful for what they have.”_

Dimly she could remember a time before her stepmother. She could remember a nice lady with pink hair who stoked her hair affectionately, kissed her goodnight, and told her bedtime stories. She remembered a time before her father went out and drank himself into a stupor. Sakura sighed, remembering the turning point.

The nice pink-haired lady had been her mother, and Sakura looked just like her… so when she’d died, understandably it was hard for her father to look at her and see her for who she was. She was practically a carbon copy of her mother, aside from her eye colour. He’d still been nice, and they’d been close. Right up until the moment he’d gotten drunk and hadn’t seen her. He’d seen her mother. The ghost of her mother – who’d left them through no fault of her own.

She was pretty. Too pretty to avoid being mugged, and a word Sakura wasn’t allowed to hear until she came of age, down a sideroad on the way back from her evening job.

Her father had been sad, really sad, and she’d tried to comfort him as best she could up until the moment he’d stormed in drunk and beaten her black and blue. He’d yelled at her, called her a bitch, called her too pretty, said he hadn’t deserved someone like her… and that was when Sakura realised he was seeing his wife, rather than his daughter. He was seeing ghosts, and she had far too close of a resemblance to the one that haunted him greatly. The one whose death he blamed on himself. He hadn’t been there. He hadn’t been able to save her, and he hated himself for it, but eventually he’d pulled himself out of the slump. But he’d done that by transferring the burning hatred inside him onto the woman herself. The one who couldn’t defend her actions because she was buried six feet under. _She was the one who chose to walk down that darkened path. She was the one who’d had too much cleavage exposed. She’d practically been inviting the guy to attack her_. That was right, it wasn’t his fault at all. The blows were meant for her. Not Sakura. So when he woke up with a brutal hangover…

_“Sakura-chan?” He stumbled back at the sight of her split lip and swelling cheek. “Oh kami-sama… Sakura, are you alright? Did—Oh… I’m so sorry Sakura. Daddy was drunk last night, but it won’t happen again.” He stroked her hair, and Sakura smiled hesitantly. He hadn’t meant it… so it was OK, right? “I’ll get help. This won’t ever happen… Sakura…” He sobbed, burying his face in her hair. “I’m sorry. Sorry… so sorry… I’m a pathetic excuse for a father.”_

But he didn’t get help. Instead, he’d found _her_ – the redhead with bright red nails to match and a charming smile – and Sakura had learnt very quickly to hide whenever they came back, breath stinking of sake and other alcoholic beverages. She learnt to ignore the whisperings she did in her papa’s ear, since her father almost always took his new wife’s side. What she said to make him that way, Sakura wasn’t sure. All she knew was that it was happening, _she was poisoning him against her,_ and it wasn’t good for her. Not if she called the lady out on it. The red-haired lady was an adult, and children like Sakura always had to listen to their betters. So rather than being outspoken, she kept her protests and questions silent. She learnt to sequester herself away in a small and quiet place, especially when she smelt the alcohol, channelling the fuzzy stuff in her stomach to her eyes to help her read in the darkness. Children weren’t meant to be seen or heard in their perfect house except at mealtimes. Books were her friends in those darkest hours. They didn’t yell at her. They didn’t hit her. Instead, they taught her things about the world around her.

So she read.

Even when her fingers were blue and stiff from the nasty beatings meant for the _bitch _who’d left them because she was a _whore._ Her fingers never stayed stiff and crippled for long. They always healed, even when she heard nasty snaps – though the pain tended to take longer to vanish, and she had to use branches to set the bones so they didn’t heal funny. She could always tell when things were misaligned, and even if she didn’t the branches would help her set them correctly.

Books and nature were her only two friends.

Other girls didn’t understand that, not when the red-haired lady who was her new mother according to her father dragged her out to the park to play. She liked those days – not because of the girls at the park but because it didn’t hurt as much. Neither her father or her mother could beat her before she went out, and even if there were any marks still left over, her new mother used the fuzzy green light to heal them. _Because they were the perfect family, and perfect families didn’t have bruises or scratches marring their faces._

“You’re weird!” the purple-haired girl said, and Sakura remained quiet, unsure of what to say.

It was better to remain silent in these sort of cases, wasn’t it? These children were bigger than her, and she had to listen to people who were bigger than her. It wasn’t too bad. She wasn’t afraid of shoves or the weak little punches they threw when the adults weren’t looking. Her father’s punches were much stronger, and her mother’s slaps stung way more. Their voices were high-pitched and weak. Nothing like the snarling hiss of her new mother, nor the angry shouting of her father.

_Not that anybody heard their family scuffles. Perfect families were quiet, and the strange squiggles her mother drew on the slips of paper plastered to the walls of the house made things quiet for everybody else outside the house. It made them the perfect family, because nobody could hear them. Nobody could hear her cries or her screams, nor her little whimpers as she crawled to her safe space._

“We’re gonna be shinobi,” Ami, the little purple-haired girl, declared. “So until we sign up for the academy we need to practice.”

Sakura blinked, sitting quietly in their small circle of sorts, feeling an odd sensation trickle up her spine, her sense sharpening, and the fuzzy stuff inside her gut stirred. It was foreboding, she realised, and for what she soon worked out.

“Kaa-chan taught me some katas and some moves, but she said we’d need to practice sparring to get a feel for things.” Brown eyes locked with her green ones, and her stomach dropped. “Sakura-chan can be my partner.”

“That’s just cause she looks the easiest to beat,” Kazumi grumbled, folding her arms. “No fair, I wanna go against her too. Clearly she needs to learn how to spar – look at her arms and legs. They’re like sticks. _We’ll be helping her, like friends do._”

_And suddenly there was an excuse for the bruises and cuts…_

Still, her mother was careful, especially when outside. She used the fuzzy green light that Sakura learnt to be called medical ninjutsu to heal the worst of them, leaving the others since Sakura was also going to go to the academy with her friends. She’d said she wanted to be a shinobi, and surprisingly neither of her parents had put up much of a fight when she asked about it.

She wanted to fight back against the girls who said they were her friends. _They were wrong. The book told her friends wouldn’t hurt her like that – that true friends would stop when she asked_. She wanted to get stronger, but that wasn’t what ladies did according to her mother.

_‘Screw what she thinks, Shannaro!’_

But being a lady was similar to being a kunoichi in her mother’s eyes, despite the fighting. Kunoichi. Shinobi. It didn’t matter – the academy would train her up. But that was only if her new mother agreed. _Her word was law in the house, and she had to listen to it unless she wanted punishment. _Fortunately her stepmother saw the benefits rather than the true reason Sakura desired it so.

_“A shinobi will bring prestige to our house,” she said, petting Sakura’s hair too roughly. “That’s a good career choice, no matter the risks. We’ll just have to find her a good husband to take over your business, dear,” she murmured, looking over at her husband. “It should be fairly easy… She has her mother’s looks…” A smirk curled at her lips._

_Her father looked disgusted, his green eyes sliding past her own matching ones and back to his work. “I’ll leave that to you.”_

_Sakura felt hope bloom in her chest, but her heart pounded painfully. The books said… She shook her head mentally. What kind of father resented his own daughter? What kind of father couldn’t bear to look at his own daughter?_

_The kind whose daughter was given birth to by a whore who’d flaunted her beauty and paid the price. Her stepmother’s voice echoed in her head. Sakura had to be careful the same thing didn’t happen to her. That was why her punishments were so harsh. She deserved them._

_“Excellent,” her stepmother purred, those red nails tracing Sakura’s face._

_Relief swept through her. Maybe the beatings wouldn’t be as bad… but it was like her stepmother could read her mind at that moment in time._

_Those red nails scrapped over her skin yet again. “Don’t worry, sweetie—” Sakura shuddered at the pet name “—you should know by now. Medics don’t ever leave scars.”_

_Terror made her skin crawl. Her new mother was a nurse, and it was because of that she knew how to cover her tracks. She knew the limits of the human body far better than anybody else. Her throat went dry, her protest vanishing into thin air at the look her stepmother gave her. She couldn’t disobey. The order was burned into her brain. She had to listen to mother, because mother knew best, even if she didn’t like it._

Still, her start at the academy was like a paradise to her, despite the taijutsu matches they had. It was freedom, and that was something she’d be able to obtain if she graduated and saved up enough money. _She’d leave. She’d escape… because no matter how much she listened and obeyed her parents, she couldn’t deny the feeling that welled up inside her whenever she saw them – the little voice in the back of her head which told her to pay them back for their treatment of her. It whispered to her that she needed to stand up for herself._

_‘Fight back, Shannaro!’_

She shook her head. Not yet. She needed to get stronger, and she wouldn’t deny the fact that she wanted some friends. Friends looked nice. She’d seen them when she’d been dragged behind Ami and her crew. A nice blonde girl with a pretty lavender-eyed girl next to her, the two of them laughing as they made flower crowns. They looked happy. Sakura wanted that.

She’d heard of sleepovers, and friends had those. Any excuse to escape the house was a godsend, and Sakura wanted more of those. She needed friends, but the book on making friends said that they trusted each other with the truth. She didn’t want to lie to her friends, so when she went to the academy and met the smiling blonde boy she told him what he wanted – the truth. _And he hated her for it. _The small twinge of a hopeful smile fell from her face, the hope ballooning in her chest popped and numbness set in instead. _He didn’t want to be friends with her._

_Who would? _Her stepmother’s words rang in her ears. _She was a selfish little girl who wanted things which weren’t hers to have._

She went about her day, still revelling in the freedom she found, her heart sinking when they were all sent home until the next day. Still, it wasn’t terrible, and she’d thought her parents were going out tonight, so she should’ve been safe.

But the red nails that raked over her skin had other ideas. “Sakura-chan, your classmate told us you hated us…” she said, cold blue eyes staring into her green ones, and Sakura felt her stomach drop to her toes. “We’ll have to rectify that… because perfect families don’t hate each other, and what kind of family are we, sweetie?”

The word left her lips in a croak. “_Perfect_.”


	2. Friends

Sakura smiled giddily when the academy gates came into sight. She was safe there, so long as her happy mask didn’t slip, _and her happy mask couldn’t slip again. _Humming quietly to herself, she skipped into the academy grounds, blinking as she spotted most of her classmates there. They were milling about without a care in the world, the blonde she’d wanted to befriend in the centre of attention.

_“You don’t want to be the centre of attention in your class, sweetie,” she said, sharp red nails running right underneath her big green eyes. “Not that you will be. The colour of your eyes is really the only redeeming feature that ugly face of yours has.”_

_“Of course, okaa-sama.” Sakura nodded, smiling up at her mother. Agreeing with her always made her be a little bit nicer. She was older and bigger than her, so she had to be correct, and telling her so made her happier._

_“But unfortunately you’re already the centre of attention by telling that blonde boy you hated us,” her stepmother said, tapping those pointy red nails against her own chin. “I wonder how you’ll make it up to us.”_

Sakura stared down at her fingertips, flicking out the dirt from under her nails, smiling as she eyed the two freshly healed ones.

_“Since you’re being such a good girl, I’ll give you a choice,” she whispered, her voice sickly sweet as she caressed her pink locks almost lovingly. “Either I’ll rip off five of your fingernails for all the pain you’ve caused me, or you rip off two yourself and we’ll forget about this little incident completely…”_

_Her shoulders almost slumped in relief – but she couldn’t show her mother she was relieved at the punishment. She wasn’t supposed to be relieved because it was a punishment, and punishments were meant to hurt in their house. Sakura was fairly sure they didn’t hurt that much in other households, but for the time being she was stuck in her perfect house, so she had to play by their rules._

_She could still remember the first time, and the three times after that when she’d been too scared to rip her nails off herself. Those red nails had pried her smaller ones off so excruciatingly slowly, and they hadn’t been healed until right before she went to bed. Her mother hadn’t wanted blood stains on the bedsheets. She’d learnt soon after that to do it herself, and she’d done it enough to know the best technique to get it over and done with as quick as possible. _

_Fingernails were easier than toenails. _

_She didn’t like using the pliers. It hurt more, especially when her mother pressed the freezing metal against her raw skin afterwards._

_Smiling up, green staring into those mirthful blue pools as she wrenched off her two smallest nails on her left hand. “There you go, Okaa-sama,” she said, handing over the bloody nails, quietly wondering when her mother would heal her fingernails. She couldn’t go to the academy like that, even if it was just the aftermath of a mild punishment._

_Her transgression hadn’t been severe enough for her to go to the basement._

_“Good girl.”_

She was a good girl, and good girls did what their parents told them. Good girls told people they loved their parents, even if they didn’t.

_“What kind of girl are you?”_

_“A good girl.” Sakura smiled._

_“No.” A red fingernail tapped her chin. “You’re a perfect girl.”_

_“Perfect,” she echoed, that word burning into her mind, repeating itself over and over like a mantra. She had to be perfect._

That was what she had to be. So when the blonde boy spotted her walking over, her lips twitched up into a plastic smile. _So artificial. So fake. It was easier to smile like that than to force a more natural smile onto her lips. Natural smiles reminded her of her stepmother’s own, and when she smiled it usually meant nothing good for her… not to mention they didn’t feel nice. She wanted to smile like that when she was happy, and not when she was just pretending to be. _Dirt scuffed under her sandals, heart pounding nervously as the strange boy looked at her expectantly. She couldn’t mess up here.

“Haruno-san,” he greeted, smiling at her widely, while the black-haired boy stared at her suspiciously – his gaze fixed on her lips. _Could he tell she wasn’t smiling properly? _Her mouth twisted, face shifting into a brighter expression. A more real one. _She was just donning another mask, _she told herself silently, _her smile was still fake. It had to be. She was just getting some more practice in for if she ever needed to take infiltration missions. _“How’d it go? I asked your dad to help you mend your relationship!”

Her smile widened that much more. _There was no repairing that relationship. Her father didn’t even like looking at her. _“I really love my parents!” she said, practically singing the words – but it worked.

“Cool!” he said, grabbing her by the wrist. _His hand was clammy and warm. Nothing like her mother’s cool, firm grip, nor her father’s rough, tight grip. _“Then we can be friends… eh…” He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “What’s your name again?”

“It’s Sakura,” she said, hope rising in her chest. _She had a friend. She’d made her first proper friend, even if she’d had to lie. _“Uh, what’s your name?” It had been something strange… something fishcake-y.

“It’s Naruto. Namikaze Naruto,” he said brightly, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at the moody black-haired boy behind him. “That’s Sasuke, Uchiha Sasuke. He’s my best friend, just like you’re gonna be eventually. We’re sitting together for the rest of the year, so we gotta be close, even if teme over there starts acting like a real tsundere or whatever it’s called.”

“I _am not _a tsundere, dobe,” Sasuke hissed, and Naruto flinched. Sakura stared at him curiously. _He was the one who’d been looking at her weirdly, like he’d seen past her plastic smile… but that was impossible. She was a perfect girl, and perfect girls had perfect masks that they could use to perfectly fool people. She was perfect. Perfect. She had to be. She didn’t want to go to the basement. The basement was scary, and the basement hurt. _He turned to her then, glancing her up and down. “Nice to meet you, I suppose.”

“It’s nice to meet you Sasuke-san,” Sakura said, bowing shallowly in his direction. “I hope we’ll have a good year.”

“Of course we will, Sakura!” Naruto yelled, clapping her on the back. Sakura blinked, not wincing or flinching as he slapped against a healing bruise. _At least it hadn’t been a newly made one. It’d have been harder to hide her reaction if that’d been the case. _“Its OK if I call you that, isn’t it? I just haven’t really had any female friends… Yesterday most of them just started giggling when I got close to them – same for teme over there.”

“Nii-san said they’re probably fangirls,” Sasuke said with a shudder. “He said fangirls are rabid females who’ll chase us and follow us everywhere, before trying to attack us with their lips somehow. We should stay away from them.”

“But Sakura isn’t a fangirl,” Naruto said, eyeing her curiously as he waited for her answer.

“Uh, can I call you N-Naruto then, if you’re calling me Sakura,” she asked hesitantly, nervousness making her lips tremble. “And um, Sasuke-san, what would you prefer me to call you?” She pressed her fingertips together, swallowing loudly as she waited for their answers. _Only close friends and family members could forgo the honorifics. She’d never expected to be making any close friends anytime soon. The books had said people were supposed to work up from friendship into close friendship, but the books weren’t always right – _or so she supposed.

“Sure.” Naruto beamed, and the strange gush of warmth in her stomach and chest made her feel oddly giddy. The false smile on her lips twisted, and Sakura blinked. _She was happy. Of course she was – she’d just made her first close friend. _

“Hn,” Sasuke grunted. “Nii-san, said the fangirls would call me _Sasuke-kun,_ and Sasuke-san is too formal for between friends.” He turned his head to the side. “I suppose you call me Sasuke, just like the dobe over here. He’s pretty insistent about being your friend, so I’ll probably have to learn to put up with your presence.”

Sakura blinked, tilting her head as she stared at him. “Are you sure you’re not a tsundere?” she asked. _The definitions in the books she’d read certainly seemed like they might match._

Naruto roared with laughter, wiping at the tears creeping out of his eyes. _But they were happy tears. She hadn’t made her friend sad. _“Ne, ne, Sakura, you’re the best! Told you she was gonna be an awesome friend to have, Sasuke!”

“I AM NOT A TSUNDERE!”

Naruto only laughed harder. “Exactly what a tsundere would say.”

He pouted, annoyance written all across his expression. _She’d made one of her new friends annoyed, but she’d been teasing him, like the books said she could. But maybe the books were wrong there too…_

“Um, I’m sorry for making you upset, Sasuke,” she said, bowing down in apology, wincing as she waited for him to say he hated her. _She was going to lose one of her new friends already… _Her heart pounded frantically in her chest. _At least she’d still have Naruto…_

“I AM NOT UPSET! I’m not a tsundere, therefore I am _not_ upset by what you just said,” he muttered, redness dotting his cheeks at the odd silence in the courtyard outside the academy building. “Tch. Tou-san’s probably going to yell at me for this,” he grumbled. “Uchiha aren’t supposed to shout.”

Sakura relaxed. _Sasuke was still her friend, _she mused, and when their sensei called them into class, she smiled as she sat down in her designated seat. Naruto smiled next to her, Sasuke brooded on the other side of him, and Sakura grinned as the lesson began. _She had two close friends. A whole two – not just one. _At least she thought that, right up until their second day at the academy had finished, and those red nails were ruffling her hair far more affectionately than when they were at home.

An older black-haired boy was there to walk Sasuke home, and she waved at her new friend, smiling right up until the moment she heard the word fall from his lips.

“Faker.”

Her heart stuttered, tears biting at her eyes as she turned away, pretending she hadn’t hear the softly spoken word meant for her. _Her mother had heard it too. _The grip on her hand tightened almost painfully, and Sakura trailed behind her stepmother. _She was in trouble. A lot of trouble._

_Perfect girls weren’t supposed to be fakers._

_“And what kind of a girl are you going to be, sweetheart?” Those red nails caressed her cheek, leaving small gouges in her smooth skin._

_“Perfect.”_


	3. Fakers

He’d called her a faker. _He knew. _Fear made her heart pound. _He couldn’t know. Nobody could. _Perfect families couldn’t be found to be anything less than just that. _Her mother hadn’t been pleased. _She skipped to the academy, excited for a new day with her new friends, chewing at her recently regrown nails. They hadn’t been healed till bright and early in the morning, since her mother hadn’t needed to worry about getting blood over her sheets.

_There were no sheets in the basement._

She chewed on her nails that much harder, ignoring the phantom pain in her back. She could still feel it – the kanji that’d been carved into her skin as a reminder. _Obviously it’d been healed. _Sakura stared ahead. It had been healed multiple times and then carved again. _Perfect. _Humming a cheery tune, she skipped down the dry dirt path, wondering about all the exciting new things she’d been learning that very day. _She wondered if they’d be given any more books she could busy herself in. _A sigh escaped her, and she blinked upon spotting a head of blonde hair and a head of inky black hair. Her face broke into a grin. _Her friends._

Green eyes locked on Sasuke. _She hoped he’d still be friends with her after yesterday. _She just needed to convince him she wasn’t a faker. _She was from a perfect family. _“Naruto! Sasuke!” she called, running up to them as they slowed in their walking, the pair of them turning as she caught up to them. Naruto looked ecstatic to see her, Sasuke less so.

_‘Punch that stupid expression on his face! It’s his fault we were in the basement last night!’ _

Sakura ignored the voice in her head. _Sasuke was one of her only two friends. Nobody else aside from him and Naruto had even considered the idea of being friends with her. _She was a girl with ugly pink hair. Everything about her was ugly aside from the colouring of her eyes.

_“The colour of your eyes is your only redeeming feature,” she spoke, red nails petting at her hair as Sakura stared at herself in the mirror._

_“The colour of my eyes came from my father.”_

_The strokes felt heavier, those sharp nails digging into her scalp. “Exactly.”_

“How was last night?” Naruto asked, tilting his head. “Kaa-chan told me to enjoy my last homework-free night! We went and got ramen for dinner. Ichiraku’s is the best!”

“Dobe, you’ve said that enough times as it is,” Sasuke grumbled. “How you can stand that greasy rubbery taste, I have no idea.”

Sakura tilted her head. “Ramen?” she asked, ignoring the wide pleading eyes Sasuke sent her way as she voiced her question. “What’s ramen?”

Naruto blinked, and Sakura only had moments before his hands were clamping down on her shoulders. _At least his nails weren’t digging in like hers would. _“You don’t know what ramen is?” he practically yelled, shaking her back and forth as he moved about like a bunny on caffeine. “Oh, we’ll have to rectify that immediately!” He grabbed her hand, pulling her away from the entrance to the academy. His grip was soft, his hand slightly clammy in her own as he led her away. “Ramen for second breakfast is an excellent choice.”

“You and your bottomless pit,” Sasuke muttered, trailing behind them, eyes boring into her back.

It was a sharp, cutting feeling. But it wasn’t uncomfortable. _Her mother’s gazes were so much different, and so much worse. _The beady blue eyes that watched her form carefully whenever she was in sight… the way they narrowed almost imperceptibly… but the fuzzy stuff always told her something. It was like one of those frequencies talked about in the really complex books she shouldn’t have been able to understand just like. She could read the frequency of her mother and father, and that was part of the reason she’d gotten so good at keeping her fingers straight, and her fingernails attached. _She knew to scarper when the fuzzy stuff spiked erratically. _The tree close by her window helped too, the branch having grown thicker and stronger over time as she grew so it could support her weight whenever she needed a place to hide away that wasn’t on top of the bookshelf, or in the attic. _Those places were becoming predictable, and she couldn’t be predictable._

_“Not if you want to be a perfect kunoichi,” _that voice whispered in her ears, and Sakura felt the phantom carvings on her back burn. _Perfect. _

_‘I hate that word, Shannaro!’_

But she had to be perfect. Had to live up to that definition.

“Naruto-kun, where exactly do you think you’re dragging this young lady off to at this time?” Red eyes bore into the bright blue ones that widened in shock. “I do believe academy classes are about to begin, and that you should be in them.”

Naruto stumbled back, letting go of her hand to rub at the back of his head sheepishly. “Hee… Oops?”

“Sasuke-chan, you let him lead you astray?” Footsteps sounded, another pair of sandaled feet coming into view, bandaged ankles and the purplish blue clothing, particularly the mantle giving away the identity of the shinobi in front of them. _Uchiha Madara. _

Everyone in the village knew of him and his teammate – Senju Hashirama. They were infamous, despite their young age. They’d been children in the Third Great Shinobi War and they’d left their mark there. _Rumour had it both were on the list of possible future Hokage candidates. _But _perfect _girls and _perfect _shinobi didn’t listen to the mindless drivel of civilians. Senju Tobirama was no slouch either – him being only a couple of years younger than his brother, and yet he’d invented plenty of jutsu and was already a master in the field of fuinjutsu.

_Uchiha Madara’s younger brother had died in his brother’s arms on the battlefield, begging him to take his eyes and wreak havoc on their enemies._

He had.

Sakura wondered what it’d be like to have siblings. It wasn’t something she thought of often though. _She wouldn’t want anybody else to go through what she had… _but the small traitorous voice inside her sometimes whispered that maybe things wouldn’t be so bad if her stepmother had another target for all her disappointment and anger.

_She wouldn’t want them to die in her arms, laced with wounds inflicted by their so-called mother. _

“I would have thought better of you,” Madara continued, and Sakura flinched at the accusing eyes that bore into her. _Those cold black eyes… but at least they weren’t blue, and they weren’t as promising of pain. Only annoyance. Sakura could deal with annoyance, especially if it was from one of her two friends. _

“Hn. It’s her fault.”

Sakura bit her lip, fighting the urge to play with her fingernails. _Only her mother wanted those. Only her family made them tear them off. _She wasn’t allowed to randomly pluck off her fingernails and hand them out to people.

_“You’re only supposed to give them to family,” she said, those blood red nails tracing the curve of her face. “It’s a sign of love and asking for forgiveness in the most intimate way only family can. Understand? Perfect girls keep these things within their family, and you’re my perfect little daughter, aren’t you?” the voice echoed in her ears, and a smile spread across Sakura’s face, her head bobbing up and down in a nod._

_“Yes, okaa-sama.” _

“Sorry,” she mumbled, staring down at the dirt.

Fingers flicked her forehead, and Sakura blinked, green eyes locking with the black ones of one of the _perfect _shinobi of the village. “Stop looking at the dirt if you’re going to apologise. It’s irritating.”

Sakura stared up at him, watching as his eyes narrowed in a glare. _But his chakra didn’t spike erratically. He wasn’t angry, even if he was staring at her coldly. _The fuzzy stuff inside him only twitched in a motion she recognised dimly as amusement. _How long had it been since she felt that from the fuzzy stuff of her own parents?_

_Well, she remembered a darker amusement radiating from her stepmother in the basement. One that reeked of satisfaction._

“Madara, stop giving her the scary face, and help me get these idiots back to the academy,” Tobirama snapped, a firm grip on the collar of Naruto’s shirt.

“Right, Sasu-chan,” Madara said, a grin on his lips that made Sasuke shudder. _But Sakura had seen worse. She’d seen scarier. _“Let’s get you to the academy.”

Sasuke shrieked as he was swept off his feet and tucked under one arm. Naruto was similarly hefted into the air and tossed over a shoulder. Sakura was as stiff as anything. _She didn’t like it when her mother did that. It usually meant she was being taken to the basement._

_There were many different ways of carrying or dragging her down there._

Rather than yanking her off her feet though, she found a hand being offered, Tobirama staring down at her with those red eyes of his.

_She still remembered that red-nailed hand offered out towards her yesterday. The one that had grasped her wrist and hauled her down to the basement where it hurt. _Was that hand going to take her somewhere painful too? Sakura stumbled back, one hand fisting in the purplish material of Madara’s mantle. The one he was supposed to always wear under the dark green flak jacket belonging to every Konoha jonin.

Madara’s fuzzy stuff hummed in amusement, Tobirama’s spiking in confusion as she clung the Madara’s clothing like a lifeline. “Well,” he spoke, ignoring the struggles of Sasuke as he began the walk back to the academy, his pace oddly slow. _He was lowering his speed for her… probably because he didn’t want her to rip his clothing, but Sakura appreciated the thought. It was a nice one._

“Sasuke-chan, stop struggling,” Madara said, sighing when Sasuke didn’t do as asked. “You’re getting a lift to the academy from yours truly. You should be honoured. Itachi-chan never got one, but I suppose he didn’t have a friend there like Naruto-chan… though I suppose Shisui-kun does a good enough job of being his idiot nowadays.”

“I only wanted to let Sakura-chan taste the _best _ramen ever!” Naruto complained from his sack-of-potatoes-position over Tobirama’s shoulder. “She’s never had ramen before. That’s _like _a crime against the human race. She _needs _to have some ramen.”

“Hn, as if anyone would enjoy that greasy slimy bowl of rubbery snakes!” Sasuke yelled, his glaring at his best friend taking prudence over his squirming.

“You take that back Sasuke!”

Sasuke stuck out his tongue. “Neh!”

Sakura giggled at the sight, a smile on her face as she stared between her two friends. _They were the best friends she could have asked for. They’d made her smile, and not a forced one either. _They looked funny, arguing at each other whilst being carried by adults who looked absolutely exasperated at their behaviour.

_‘Shannaro! I suppose Sasuke isn’t all that bad.’_

Too right he wasn’t. Her steps felt slightly lighter as they made their way to those familiar academy gates. _The one that spelled her escape from her house. _She let go of the fabric bunched in her hand, stepping over the threshold, silently waiting as her friends were put down.

“Right, well I’ll be off then,” Madara said, leaning in to give Tobirama a quick kiss on the cheek. _It was nothing like the ones her father gave her stepmother. _There was only love in their eyes, and their chakra buzzed warmly, seeming to connect the pair for a single moment, singing in a harmony that made a smaller smile spread across her face before they noticed her curious staring.

The spiky-haired Uchiha vanished in an instant, leaving Tobirama behind, red-cheeked and slightly flustered under her gaze. “I always tell him not to,” he muttered to himself, but her sharp ears picked up on the quiet murmur. “Right, you three, get to class. You won’t be late if you make it there in the next five minutes, and so help me if you decide to try and go and get ramen again, then I will drag you to my office by the ears. Understand?”

He loomed over them, and they nodded as quickly as they could.

Then it was just the three of them, looking at each other for a few more moments before they headed into the academy building. Sasuke paused at the entrance as Naruto hurried on ahead, glancing back at her, a frown on his face. “You should smile like that more. It looks better on you than those fake ones, idiot,” he grumbled, turning and walking inside without another word.

Sakura blinked, rubbing at her chest.

“What are you two waiting for?” Naruto yelled from further inside. “Hurry up!”

A grin stole across her lips, the fuzzy stuff in her own chest making her feel oddly warm as she ran to catch up to her precious friends. _She’d treasure them forever._


	4. Ramen

There was no punishment waiting for her when she got home. Relief sang through her, and she flopped on her bed, cuddling her pillow to her chest as she glanced around her room. There was a lingering scent of sake from where bottles had been smashed against the floor for months on end. Her eyes flickered over to the old bloodstain on the wall. One she hadn’t quite been able to clear out. She could still remember everything about that night and the build up to it – and she’d memorised it, even through the pain. She hadn’t blanked it out of her memories as best as possible, because she needed to remember so it wouldn’t happen again.

She’d almost died that night.

It had been one of the few times her stepmother had actually looked rather nervous as she’d healed her. Sakura had been left with a scar from then on. One that wasn’t visible, much to her parents’ relief – it was hidden under her silky pink tresses, a large ugly thing. There was no way it could be small. She’d felt her skin split, and the amount of blood she’d lost had been extensive. It was a miracle she’d survived that at all, being as young as she was at the time.

_Jagged ends of broken bottles were dangerous weapons. _She’d learnt that the hard way. The painful way. Sighing quietly, she fished out the homework she’d been given out of her bag, humming a cheery song to herself as she cracked out her writing utensils and got her brain in gear. She’d always been clever, and her intelligence always came in handy. Sakura could still remember how the nice pink lady had ruffled her hair and called her smart when she’d been younger. _She missed the pink lady. _Not that she could say that out loud. She’d made that mistake, and the basement it had been for the night.

Yawning, she peered over at the clock, blinking as she realised how late it was getting. Homework had taken up more time than she’d thought it might. Iruka-sensei seemed nice, Sakura mused as she tucked her completed homework into her bag, so perhaps he would be alright if her homework occasionally didn’t turn up. _Sometimes she could stop her father or her stepmother from ruining her things when they were upset. _Tilting her head, she glanced at the bright red numbers on her alarm clock, biting her lip as she realised how quiet the house was. Her parents should’ve been back at least an hour ago… and the fact they weren’t could only mean one thing.

They were out at the bar or some sort of pub. _And that meant she ought to make her own dinner and make herself scarce before eleven o’clock at the latest. _Sakura plastered her practice smile on her face, peering at herself in the mirror tucked away in the corner of her room. _It was a miracle the thing hadn’t already been broken in a drunken fit. _“Perfect,” she whispered. The word was like ashes in her mouth. “I have to be perfect.”

With her smile in place, she trotted downstairs, ensuring her plastic grin never left her face. _She needed to make it more believable. She needed to practice it more, lest she want to spend more time cowering in the basement – or worse, strapped to the table. _The kanji that had been carved into her back and healed over numerous times made her skin twinge. She didn’t want that to happen again.

Making dinner was simple enough, as was tidying up after herself, the clock displaying it was nine o’clock by the time she’d finished with her meal. Concealing yet another yawn, she trundled back upstairs, wondering where the best place to hide would be.

The tree by her window creaked in answer to her silent question, and Sakura grabbed her pillow and blanket, cranking open her window and shuffling herself and all the bits and pieces she wanted to keep intact out onto the branch. She followed shortly after, ensuring her window was left the slightest bit open – so could sneak in by the time morning came. Crawling around to the perfectly sized little bower made by intertwining tree branches and leaves was practically second nature to her by that point. Carefully, she tucked her bookbag out of sight of the window, setting her pillow beneath her head as she settled down for the night. The wind wasn’t all that strong, and even on the occasion it was, the tree branches usually kept her safe from the worst of it. _They were kind like that. _Her fingers ran over the dark wood, a bright smile on her face as the tree hummed in answer. “Thanks for letting me stay here, Tree-san,” she chirped, pulling her blanket up to her chin, lying on her back in the suspended bed of twigs and perilously soft leaves. “You’re one of the few friends I have…” she whispered. “Did I tell you I made some new ones? But… I don’t think I’ll be able to bring them over. I don’t want mother to say I can’t be friends with them…”

Her stepmother had said that before – about getting involved with a nice-looking blonde girl. _Said she wasn’t ever allowed to get close to the girl or her relatives. _Sakura supposed that was why she was strictly forbidden from going to the flower shop. She’d seen the pretty blonde girl working there before. Small tasks, nothing big – just like the small tasks she did at home, whether it be cooking her own dinner, cleaning the house, or taking care of all the calculations that needed to be done for her father’s business. _But she’d learnt to do them on a rough sheet of paper and leave them for him to check. _He’d even nodded at her whenever she brought her workings, though he still didn’t look at her. _But Sakura liked to think one day he would._

_‘Don’t kid yourself, Shannaro! He doesn’t give us the time of day, but he’ll regret it one day! We’ll be a kickass shinobi, and then we won’t need either of them!’_

A happy smile pulled at her lips. _Not needing her stepmother… _that was a nice thought. Sighing, Sakura shut her eyes, blocking out the beautiful moon that hung in the sky above her. Now she finally had more things to look forwards to. Every day was a day closer to freedom, and every day was another she could spend with her precious friends. Closing her eyes, she dreamt of them, a happy dream unlike the nightmares she usually had.

Daylight came too quickly for her liking, and she had to say goodbye to Tree-san and get ready for another day. She hadn’t heard her parents rustling about in her room the night before, but that might’ve been due to the fluffy vines that had been wrapped around her ears when she woke.

Breakfast was a sordid affair, as per usual, and she ate silently, hiding the glee and relief she felt when she was sent on her way with a wave of a red-nailed hand. She walked out the house calmly, like the _perfect _daughter would, ensuring she was a couple of streets away before she broke into a run. A smile appeared on her face as she spotted heads of blonde and black hair, and her run turned into a sprint. “Naruto! Sasuke!”

Naruto turned, a bright grin on his face as he saw her, Sasuke beside him looking somewhat resigned to his fate as she appeared next to them in a flurry of dirt and wind. “Sakura! You’re here,” he said, hopping up and down on his feet. “And you’re early – really early… which means—”

“No, dobe,” Sasuke hissed, glaring at him as their blonde friend grabbed both of their wrists in an iron grip.

“RAMEN TIME!” he yelled, dragging Sakura and Sasuke behind him as he hurried through the streets.

Sakura blinked, heart pounding as she remembered the fact she didn’t get pocket money and there was a good chance they might end up being late. _Perfect girls weren’t meant to be late. _“Naruto, I don’t have any money—”

“My treat,” Naruto said, and then she found herself sitting at the stand of Ramen Ichiraku, a bowl of piping hot miso ramen Naruto had ordered for her steaming in front of her.

“Just eat it,” Sasuke grunted from her other side, glaring down at his ramen which had a few whole tomatoes in it as far as she could tell. “He’ll be insufferable otherwise.”

“What does insuff-er-able mean?” Naruto asked, mouth stuffed full of what was undoubtably his favourite food. “It sounds like a big word.”

“Because it is, dobe,” Sasuke said, nose in the air as he picked at his ramen. “Only intelligent people can use it correctly though, and I doubt you’re one.”

“Sasuke that’s mean!” Naruto whined.

“Hn.”

Sakura just smiled at their antics, polishing off her ramen as quickly as she could, praying they wouldn’t be late as Sasuke finished his meal, Naruto looking to be close behind.

“I told you they’d be here,” a voice Sakura vaguely recognised from the day before sounded, and then her ear was being twisted. A grunt from Sasuke told her he was in a similar position, and a glance over at Naruto showed him being lifted by the collar of his shirt as he paid the vendor before being unceremoniously slung over Tobirama’s shoulder.

“And it seems you were correct,” Madara said, tugging the pair of them away from Ramen Ichiraku and on the street back towards the direction of the academy. “Missing your lessons for ramen, eh? Don’t tell me Naruto’s infected you already, Sasu-chan. You won’t be catching up to Itachi-chan at this rate.”

Sasuke’s shoulders slumped, a mulish expression on his face as he walked forwards – keeping pace with the hand that held his ear captive.

“Kaa-chan would be proud!” Naruto declared, even as he was toted like a sack of potatoes.

“Well, it is Kushina-san we’re talking about there. She’d glow with pride before smacking you upside the head for compromising your education,” Tobirama said, and Sakura was fairly sure his eyes were rolling as his fuzzy stuff hummed in amusement and exasperation.

Sakura yawned, ignoring the curious glance Madara directed her way as he maintained his tight grip on their ears. _So other children did get hit too, _she mused, tilting her head as much as Madara’s grasp would allow as she pondered over the thought. _Maybe her stepmother’s treatment of her wasn’t so unnatural then? _Shrugging, she continued in her walk, silently praying her mother wouldn’t hear about her apparently being a bit late for class. Nothing good would come of that, since _perfect _girls weren’t late. They certainly didn’t eat ramen for second breakfast. _They probably didn’t even eat a second breakfast._

_‘But we’re not perfect, Shannaro!’ _the voice she’d come to call her Inner sounded. _‘Who cares about being perfect? We’ll just punch our way through life!’_

She blinked, mulling the thought over. Certainly, getting strong enough to punch her way out of things sounded like an excellent idea, even if it would be hard in principle. But she wanted to be a strong shinobi. _She wanted to escape._

_‘And we’ll get there, mark my words!’ _Inner said, clenching her fist. _‘But first, get that stupid Uchiha off our ear. That hurts, Shannaro!’_

“But not as bad as it could,” she mumbled in answer, smiling despite the slight twinge in her ear as the academy came into sight.


	5. Lessons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sakura has read books of a questionable nature, and Madara has an odd taste in literature.

Sakura narrowly dodged the fist Ino sent her way, tensing her stomach as she spotted the follow up punch coming at an angle she wouldn’t be able to dodge at. It slammed into her stomach, and she skidded backwards ever so slightly, the fuzzy stuff in her gut buzzing towards her legs as it usually did when her parents hit her there. _Their punches were harder, and before the fuzzy stuff had started to move, she’d used to go flying – but that meant hitting the wall and hitting that hurt her more. _So Sakura had learnt how not to hit the wall, and that practice was seemingly coming in handy. Smiling, she charged towards Ino, hand making a fist to slam into the other girl, but as she did that a counter fist rammed into her own stomach. _Ino was far better at her with physical combat, but that was ok, because Ino was a clan kid. _Her mother would understand that. She hadn’t been at the academy for very long either, so she didn’t have much experience in fighting, so her mother would have to accept that fact. _Wouldn’t she?_

_‘Shannaro, who cares what that bitch thinks? We’re awesome just the way we are!’_

Grinning, Sakura punched at Ino again, watching as the blonde panted. She was breathing heavily too, not used to this much physical exertion. She also felt oddly weak too, especially compared to the hits Ino could give to her rather than the ones she gave to Ino. _She didn’t have a lot of muscle to help her in that respect. _Though that might have been because she didn’t eat enough. She’d read about it once in a book. _Shinobi needed a different diet to ordinary civilians, since they used chakra lots and chakra consumed energy. _If one used too much chakra they might get sleepy, and if one continued to use chakra after that point, they might never wake up from their unplanned nap. _They’d be dead._

She’d always been very careful after she’d learnt that with her fuzzy stuff, though fortunately she seemed to have decent amounts of chakra. Enough to get her through the blows her mother and father sent her way. _She hoped she’d had enough after fighting Ino too, just in case that night was a bad one. _

“Why won’t you go down already?” Ino complained, glaring at her in irritation after yet another failed attempt to get her on her back. _Sakura didn’t like falling on her back. It meant she had to curl up, and it made it harder to run away from the punches_. “I’ve already hit you so many times…”

Sakura smiled blankly. “Sorry,” she said, apologising automatically as she readied herself up for another exchange of fists with the blonde.

“Don’t apologise!” Ino demanded, charging towards her, and Sakura stumbled to get out of the way. “Don’t mock me! Fight me and stop running away!”

Sakura dodged out of the way of the punch again, not wanting to use up too much of her fuzzy stuff lest there not be enough for later, blinking when Ino charged her by and skidded right out of the ring, handing her the match in an instant. “I won?” She blinked, glancing towards Ino who stomped back towards her, a slight pout to her lips.

“Don’t go making a big deal out of it,” Ino huffed, walking back towards the rest of their class who waited on the side lines. “I’ll beat you real good next time.”

All the tension flooded out of her, adrenaline from the fight vanishing, and Sakura felt oddly light-headed all of a sudden, black spots appearing in her vision. _And Sakura remembered how she’d had to skip breakfast that very morning. She hadn’t wanted to face her mother so soon. Hadn’t wanted to listen to the morning lecture over breakfast of how she had to be perfect – using the excuse that she wanted to arrive early to get away and maintain her ‘perfect’ girl status. _Silently, she wished Naruto had taken her to get ramen like he had in their first week. Maybe then she wouldn’t have felt as ill as she did, but hindsight was always an issue with her. “Sakura-chan?” Mizuki-sensei wandered closer to her, concern showing on his face, but all too soon that blurred out of focus, and her back hit the dirt with a light thud.

* * *

The ceiling that blurred into view was an unfamiliar one to her, and Sakura groaned as she looked out the window opposite the bed she was lying on. The sun was still very high in the sky, indicating not much time had passed since her admission to what had to be the academy’s nurse office.

Rubbing her eyes, Sakura sat up, yawning until she noticed the set of red eyes that flickered their attention over onto her as she moved.

“You’re finally awake,” Senju Tobirama spoke, getting up from the desk he was sitting at, planting himself in the chair by her bedside. “You gave your sensei quite the scare.”

Sakura felt herself shrink in on herself. “I’m sorry.” _They couldn’t report it to her mother. Perfect girls weren’t supposed to faint. It was all her fault too… if she hadn’t skipped breakfast to spend more time with her precious friends… _Her stomach rumbled as if in answer to her thoughts.

“You are from a civilian family, yes?”

She nodded, blinking as Tobirama set her lunch down on the tray drawn up to her lap. “Yes. That’s correct.”

“And is this all you usually have for lunch?” he enquired, and she nodded yet again, not wanting to speak. _Was she in trouble? _she wondered, silently praying no word of this would reach her parents’ ears. “I see.” He stood up, brow furrowed. “I will sent you home with a copy of the academy’s recommended dietary plan. Show it to your parents tonight and ask for them to follow it. Come and see me tomorrow if they disagree or complain… but for now, eat your lunch and get some rest. Best not to overexert yourself for the rest of the day.”

Sakura blinked, quietly doing as she was asked, polishing off her lunch before rolling back under the blankets – only to be woken an hour or so later by a visitor. And the visitor was someone she recognised, even as she climbed quietly out of the bed in order to peek curiously around the screen which had been set up to block her from being disturbed by curious gazes.

Madara was standing right in front of Tobirama as he sat on another bed in the room – between his legs if she really wanted to be precise – hands holding onto the bedsheets as he leant over his husband. Tobirama’s cheeks were slightly red, his breathing slightly faster than usual. And then Sakura realised why the scene seemed so familiar.

“Oh, it’s like that scene from that little red book…” Sakura paused, hand brushing at her chin as she tried to remember the title of that strange book, blurting it out quietly as it popped up in her memory. _It had been an odd book, and it had made her wonder about whether her parents did anything of the sort behind closed doors. _It had been tucked away in the corner of the bookshelf, but she’d wanted to read everything on the shelf, so she had – no matter how boring each tome might’ve been. _There were only so many books in the house, and she couldn’t always get more from the library – lest they be ruined by her father when he was on a rampage through her room – so she made the most out of any and all sources of reading._

Madara turned sharply, jaw dropping. “You’ve read that book?” he asked, blinking as though he’d just noticed how small she was. “Wait, why is there a child here in the first place?” He turned back towards his white-haired husband accusingly. “I thought we were alone in here!”

“I was trying to tell you, idiot!” Tobirama hissed. “And what’s the big deal about the book she mentioned? Kids her age can read, you know.”

“Are children her age supposed to read erotic fiction about two men getting it on?” Madara hissed right back, glaring at him. _Though his chakra was flickering in embarrassment. _

“Wait, what?” Tobirama blinked, head snapping back and forth between her and the spiky-haired man in front of him. “_What?”_

“That’s my question! Why did her parents let her—? Why is she—”

“No,” Tobirama interrupted. “Why are you—”

“Is my involvement in this really that integral?”

“Madara…” Tobirama stared at him pointedly. “Why are you so well acquainted with that piece of literature?”

Madara flushed bright red, stumbling back away from Tobirama, covering his face with his hands, peeking out at his husband from behind them. “It’s Mito’s fault,” he blurted out. “She has the whole collection hidden under the loose floorboard by her bed. It’s the one that creaks when you put all your weight on it, if you really want to know.”

Tobirama leered forwards. “_And just how do you know the location of those books?”_

Madara groaned, muttering incomprehensible words until the red-eyed stare grew too much for him to bear. “I read them in my free time, OK!”

Tobirama pinched the bridge of his nose. “Why am I only just now finding out my husband enjoys reading erotica…?”

“It’s not like it’s everyday I read them!” he complained, waving his hands around, scrambling to regain his calm, cool equilibrium. “I just… thought there might be some interesting ideas for sex…”

Tobirama sighed, burying his face in his hands, and Sakura decided to pipe up and ask her question right them. _They kept seeming to skirt around the topic with her there in the room, but she didn’t quite understand the topic itself, and being the knowledge hoarder she was, she wanted to know. They were making enough of a big deal out of it all anyway. _“What’s erotica? And what’s the big deal with sex?” she asked, musing whether the library would have any books on the topic. The library was her best friend at times like these ones, though she sorely hoped books on ‘erotica’ and ‘sex’ wouldn’t be in a restricted section.

Madara’s head snapped around so quickly, Sakura almost thought she heard the sound of something breaking. “Oh,” he squeaked. “Uh. Um. Tobi?” He glanced at his husband, black eyes wide and pleading.

“Sakura-chan, let’s save that discussion for when you’re a bit older, alright?” Tobirama smiled at her, and Sakura stared blankly back at him.

“Would the library have any books on these topics?” she queried, tilting her head as their chakras flickered in patterns she wasn’t quite sure what to make of.

“Yes, but they might be a bit hard to access at your age, so you’re better off waiting,” Tobirama said sagely.

Sakura stared at him intently, her face expressionless. “Would it work if I told the librarian you gave me permission to research these topics?”

“No, no. Nononono. No.” Madara flailed.

Tobirama pinched the bridge of his nose. “Very well, since that’s the way it’s going to be,” he said, taking a deep, calming breath. “If you wish to learn…”

“Wait you’re actually going to give her _the talk_?” Madara stared at his husband. “Seriously? She’s like five…”

Tobirama’s shoulders sunk, and he stared up at the ceiling for a few moments, ignoring Madara’s scathing questions in favour of groaning quietly. “Why do I feel like we just got played by a child?”


	6. Happiness

The loud, harsh ticking of the clock inside the house greeted her when she arrived back home from the disastrous day. Her mother sat at the table, sipping at her tea, documents spread out in front of her, and Sakura swallowed harshly. The diet plan felt like it was burning her from her bag, and rather than speaking with her mother she trudged to the kitchen, intent on acquiring a glass of water with which to cool her nerves. She’d need them to confront her mother – but only after her work was finished. Bad things would happen if she interrupted her mother’s work.

Instead, she ventured upstairs to her room, humming under her breath as she did so, deciding she might as well start on the homework she had been assigned. That was always a good thing to do. _It was a good way to kill time. _

The clock continued its ticking, the sound oddly comforting to her as she worked through her exercises. They were fairly easy, given she’d always been book smart. She had scored well in that section of the entrance exams. The only thing she had going for her in sparring was mainly her tenacity and ability to pick herself back up after being beaten into the ground.

Little fists didn’t hurt as much as big ones, she always reminded herself, humming quietly as she finished the activity sheet set for them. “Done,” she declared, stomach clenching painfully. _Because now that she was done, it was the best time for her to go and ask her mother about the diet plan. _“You can do this,” she whispered, not believing her words in the slightest.

_‘Punch her!’ _Inner crowed inside her mind. _‘Just like how all those clan kids always punch you! Make her hurt… just like how she always hurts us!’ _

Sakura shivered at the thought, ignoring the curl of satisfaction in her gut at the thought of that woman on the floor, bleeding. She shook her head. Those kinds of thoughts were stupid. _She would never win against her – her stepmother was bigger, and older. _She was meant to listen and obey her, no matter how much it hurt.

She just had to become a genin, and then she would be free to earn her own money… and move far, far away from the place which haunted her nightmares.

_‘Shannaro!’ _Inner roared in approval. _‘And beat her to a bloody pulp on the way out!’_

Sakura shook her head. _Shinobi weren’t allowed to harm innocent civilians._

_‘She’s not innocent.’_

But she hadn’t been convicted or suspected of any wrongdoings. Sakura pushed her hair back out of her face, rubbing at her forehead. It looked so large compared to the rest of her. Ami, her friends, and her stepmother had mentioned it all at one point. It was why she had a fringe. Why she’d always had a fringe.

_‘But when we’re stronger, no one will hurt us ever again – with words or their fists,’ _Inner whispered, and Sakura sighed in contentment as what felt like a pair of ghostly arms circled around her from behind, Inner sounding almost like she was whispering in her ear as she spoke again. _‘Because otherwise we’ll hurt them back.’_

“That’s right,” she murmured, steeling herself as she stared down the stairs, sheet of paper in hand. Tobirama had asked her to bring up the diet plan with her mother. She edged down onto the first step, wincing at the creak the floorboards made. _She was just doing as Tobirama had asked – and her mother couldn’t blame her for that. _Her hands curled into fists, crumbling at the sheet given to her, as her arms shook. _But she could blame her for skipping breakfast. For not being the perfect girl she was supposed to be._

Panting, Sakura stepped back, reading over the diet plan, mind racing as she tried to think of a way around it. Around speaking with her mother. Around the topic of why Tobirama had noticed she hadn’t been eating enough. _She couldn’t lie to that woman about that. _

Sakura blinked, staring at the list of the kinds of food she would need to bring with her in her lunchbox. She could cook them, she realised with a start – she had read and memorised the recipe books within the house, and she already knew her way around the kitchen.

All she would have to do would be to wake up that much earlier or spend that much longer in the kitchen in the afternoons before. She wouldn’t take too large portions of the more expensive ingredients in the fridge, and if her mother asked she could just say that her sensei had commented on her lunch not looking healthy or varied enough… and that she was just trying to meet the expectations of a _perfect _little girl.

She nodded, satisfied.

_‘Who cares about being perfect?’ _Inner grumbled, and Sakura could almost picture her waving a fist about inside her mindscape. _Mindscapes like those fictional books always had. _A grin bloomed on her face and she snuck back inside her room, quickly finding her favourite reading book, pulling it off the shelve before she buried her nose in its pages.

The sound of wood creaking had her turning to face the window, and Sakura blinked at the thick branch now positioned in the perfect place for her to climb over to her favourite tree. Sakura smiled at the invitation, quickly hoping out the window and racing along the branch to greet her old friend. _The only one she’d had before Naruto and Sasuke. _“Thanks, Tree-san,” she mumbled, grateful for the invitation to rest in the branches, gently caressing the old bark. Her one place of solace in the house she called home.

* * *

“Neh, Sakura-chan, what’s that?” Naruto pointed at one of the crispy golden balls in her lunchbox as they sat outside under the light of the midday sun. “It looks super tasty!”

“Chicken karaage,” she said, smiling widely at the praise. _Naruto had said it looked tasty. _She had spent hours last afternoon making up her lunch for that day, and it was certainly worth it. “You can have a piece if you’d like,” she offered, nearly vibrating in her seat when both Naruto and Sasuke took the opportunity to take one each. “I made it myself.” Gingerly, she pressed her fingers together, looking at them both hopefully as she waited for their reactions to her precious cooking.

_‘Of course it tastes awesome!’ _Inner declared. _‘Otherwise they can taste my fist!’_

Sakura chuckled quietly.

“I’sh ‘eally goo’,” Naruto declared, chewing all the while, giving her a thumbs up.

Sasuke glared at him, swallowing before he nodded at her. “It’s the third best chicken karaage I’ve had,” he said with a sniff. “Kaa-chan’s and Itachi-nii’s are the only ones who beat yours.”

Naruto swallowed before speaking that time. “Not your tou-san’s?”

Sasuke grimaced. “Kaa-chan has given us permission to kill if we ever find him cooking in the kitchen,” he said, smirking. “Though she told Itachi-nii he could use the Grand Fireball Jutsu… but I haven’t learnt that just yet.” Sasuke frowned, glaring down at his empty hands for a few moments before he turned his attention back onto his lunch.

“Can I have some more?” Naruto asked, blue eyes wide and pleading.

“No,” Tobirama intoned, gently tapping the file he was carrying down onto the blonde head of hair to get his attention. “Because the reason your dear friend here passed out, is because she hasn’t been eating healthily enough.”

Naruto sucked in a breath, staring at her, and Sakura flinched. “Does that mean I can take her out in the mornings to get more ramen?” he asked, earning another gentle swat on the head.

“No matter what Kushina-chan tells you, _ramen is not healthy, _brat,” Tobirama declared, flicking Naruto on the forehead.

Naruto winced. “Oww! Tobirama-oji, stop letting Madara infect you!” He pouted. “You’re getting meaner!”

“I’ve always been this mean, Naruto-kun. It’s not my fault you’ve never noticed it,” he said, ruffling that golden hair before he was on his way once more, leaving the three of them alone.

Naruto puffed out his cheeks.

Sasuke rustled about in his bag, planting a smaller lunchbox on the bench they were sitting at in the playground separated from the training grounds where the bigger kids usually hung out. “Kaa-chan said I should give this to you… I told her about you passing out… and she _ordered _me to give this to you…” He scratched at his reddening cheeks. “Since you’re… y’know… my friend.”

Sakura smiled, opening it to find Sasuke’s mother’s own chicken karaage as well as other fried vegetables and snacks. “Thank you, Sasuke… and please thank your kaa-chan too.”

“Hn.”

“That means he will,” Naruto interpreted.

“Shut it, dobe!”

Naruto stuck out his tongue, and Sakura scarfed down the rest of her lunch, finishing just in time for their sensei to call them in for their afternoon classes. Sakura was smiling the entire time.

* * *

Her favourite tree creaked in the background, sweat beading on her forehead as she pushed her body up and down in the shade of her old friend. Sasuke had told her all about his training back at home with his brother. Naruto had told her about training back at his home with his father – when he had the time.

It was a way to get stronger.

_‘Shannaro!’ _Inner declared, pumping a fist as she dropped into the second set. Being in a civilian household there were no kunai target boards for her – but she could just focus on strengthening her body for then. Maybe when she was closer with both Naruto and Sasuke they might invite her over for training… but they weren’t at that stage of friendship as of yet – and Sasuke guarded his brother’s time very viciously, or so she had heard.

Her arms burnt, and Sakura bared her teeth, only dropping down when she heard the door open. “Sakura,” her stepmother called, and Sakura straightened her clothes as best she could, coming out from behind the tree as she heard her mother step over the grass.

“Yes, okaa-sama?” she inquired, throat dry as her mother’s lips twisted in disgust.

“Clean yourself up, and then do your chores for this week,” she ordered. “I have guests coming over later, and I want the house to be spotless.”

Stiffening, Sakura nodded jerkily. “I will,” she promised, trying to make herself as small as possible under those watchful blue eyes _so unlike her friend’s. _

“Good girl,” her stepmother crooned, ruffling at her hair. _It was nothing like how Tobirama had ruffled Naruto’s hair earlier that day. _“That’s what I like to hear.” Nails dug into her scalp, but Sakura didn’t flinch. She had been expecting those cutting red nails.

They always came.

Sakura stared at the ground, shoulders sinking as her mother walked back inside the house. Her father wasn’t around as per usual – having headed out on a business trip to their northernmost branch – and he would be gone for the rest of the week at least.

She never really noticed him coming and going.

His presence never changed much, and he always avoided her wherever possible. Sakura tried to tell herself it didn’t hurt.

It did.

_‘What did he ever do to deserve that?’ _Inner grumbled, but Sakura ignored her. She could still remember _before _when the pink lady was still around. She always wished that caring father would come back – that he would change. _Just like a fairy-tale. _She bit her lip. _‘Fairy-tales don’t exist here,’ _Inner reminded, and Sakura stared down at her dirty hands.

“They don’t, do they?”


	7. Eyes

Wrapping her bento in cloth, Sakura smiled, tucking it away into her bag, ready for lunchtime with her dear friends. _She could hardly wait to see them again. _They were her happiness there. Her high note of her day before she came back to the troubles of her home. _Her and her red nails. _Sakura frowned, stiffening as her sharp ears caught the sounds of footfalls against the stairs. They were fairly soft too – which meant there was only one person it could be. A smile curved onto her lips, feet suddenly feeling like they were bricks as she slung her bag onto her back.

“On your way already?” her stepmother enquired, lifting one red brow as she stared down at her with those _cold _blue eyes. “Have a good day, sweetie,” she said, ignorant to the way her gut clenched and how Sakura’s skin roiled at the pet name.

_“I’m only doing this because I love you, sweetie…”_

Her fingers twitched, every part of her body readying herself for the pain as those red nails caressed her scalp much too hard. “Don’t get into any trouble, my _perfect _little girl.”

“Of course not, okaa-sama,” she said, a placid smile on her face as she bid the older woman goodbye, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up on end when she felt herself being followed to the door. _It seemed it was time for her mother to water the plants in their small front garden. _Not that it mattered. Soon she would be out of sight and out of mind of her stepmother.

She hurried out of the gate, closing it carefully behind her, not bidding her stepmother another glance before she hurried on her way. _Soon she would be meeting with Sasuke and Naruto… _A proper smile twisted at her lips then, excitement filling her at the prospect.

“Oy! Sakura-chan!”

Sakura stiffened, flinching slightly at the voice she hadn’t heard in the last week. _Mainly because she had subtly been avoiding Ami and her cronies. _She didn’t like the purple-haired girl and her gaggle of friends. They weren’t nice to her unlike Naruto and Sasuke. _Her precious friends. _The first ones she had made without the influence of her parents. She hunched down, walking faster, praying Ami would lose interest.

“Sakura!” her mother’s voice echoed across the almost empty street like the gong of the academy bell. “Don’t ignore your friends,” she said sharply, and Sakura flinched as she felt that blue-eyed gaze on her back. _They weren’t the blue eyes she wanted staring at her. _Those came with whiskered cheeks, and bright smiles which made her chest feel warm and fuzzy.

“Ami-chan,” the name fell from her lips like unwanted sludge. Her arms curling around herself as she turned to face those brown eyes which glared at her accusingly. “How are you?”

“You’ve been avoiding me,” she said matter-of-factly, and Sakura shivered as she heard the creak of the gate. “You think just ‘cause you have other friends you can ditch me, Kazumi, and the rest of the girls?”

Her mind raced, even as she felt a hand on her head, pushing it down into a bow, and she struggled to think of how to justify her absence from her so-called friend in front of her stepmother. “You shouldn’t avoid your friends, sweetie,” she said. “Apologise.”

_‘Like hell you should apologise!’ _Inner chimed in, roaring in anger which Sakura had long since learnt to supress. _‘That bitch Ami isn’t our friend, Shannaro!’_

“I… apologise, Ami-chan,” she said, neck aching slightly as the hand pushing her head down didn’t let up. “I was unaware that my absence meant so much to you.”

“Hmph.” Ami folded her arms. “Well, to make up for it, you should walk with me to the academy, OK?”

Her stepmother released her hold, but the sensation of her head being grasped tightly didn’t let up. _She would probably feel the ghost of that punishing hold for a while longer she knew… just as how she always felt those nails digging into her scalp with such ferocity and barely withheld anger. _Stiffening, she turned back around, hating the way she could feel the older woman’s chakra roiling inside her with a promise of punishment later. _Maybe she would forget? _Sakura hoped. _After all, it wasn’t too big of a slip. _As Iruka-sensei had said in class, _a few mistakes were alright. _People learnt from their mistakes.

_Her mother just liked helping her learn with pain. Pain was meant to be a good motivator, wasn’t it? _Sakura swallowed, a silence hanging thick and heavy in the air between the two of them as they made their way down the street. She was free from the burning stare of her stepmother, but really Sakura felt as though she had traded one for another.

She could still remember all the cuts and grazes Ami and the rest of her friends had given her in their bid to _help _her become a better shinobi. _And less of a cry-baby, _or so they said. Sakura didn’t understand – she had never cried in front of them. Her eyes had only watered from the sudden, unexpected pain Ami delivered to her. The only time they had ever leaked over her cheeks was when Ami had brought the kunai set her mother had bought for her, ready for the academy. Blunted as they were, they had still managed to slice through her skin with alarming ease.

Though fortunately cuts, even deep ones from kunai, never took too long to heal, and tree-san always helped with her healing if she sat close to them or any of their brethren. Nature was her friend, and she loved it as much as she loved and treasured her books.

A shove to her side yanked her out of her thoughts, a strangled yelp escaping her as she found herself slammed into the wall of an alleyway just off the main street they had been walking down. “You think you’re so much better than me just because you managed to befriend the Uchiha boy and the son of the Hokage?” Ami snarled, lips pulled back, exposing her teeth. “You think you can just ditch us because you found someone better to hang off of?”

Sakura winced. “Friends aren’t meant to hurt each other,” she said matter-of-factly, all the while hoping she would complain to her parents. _Because that meant her stepmother would find out. _She couldn’t fight back. Couldn’t push Ami into the wall and potentially injure her. _In spars it would be fine, but here… _“You always hurt me. You were never my friend.” _Books didn’t lie to her. _Naruto and Sasuke were her friends, and they never hurt her. They only enthusiastically dragged her places, like the ramen stand with the nice owner.

_‘Punch her stupid face in!’ _Inner crowed. _‘She doesn’t get to corner us here like this! Ha! We were never her friend. Ever. We’d sooner drink toilet water than call her a proper friend…’_

Sakura grimaced at the thought of drinking toilet water, her own hands scrabbling to grab a hold of Ami’s wrists as her small hands moved threateningly close to her neck. “Of course we weren’t you friend,” she hissed. “That was just a stupid show for our parents… You think we would ever call you a friend. You’re _nothing, _Sa-_kura_-chan,” Ami said, and Sakura hated how tears burnt in the corners of her eyes at that admission. “You’re pathetic. Never whining whenever we picked on you, just doing at your told like some sort of dog!” Hands fisted in the lapels of her shirt, yanking her up before slamming her into the wall once more. “I don’t understand you… I don’t understand _how _someone can be so pathetic. Why don’t you fight back? You want to be a kunoichi, don’t you…?”

_‘Lemme at her, Sakura!’ _Inner thrashed about in her head, and Sakura froze as she felt the urge to rip into the girl rising. _That was Inner though. _She couldn’t. She wouldn’t. Silently, she thought of the basement and all the fear that room evoked. She would no doubt end up in there if she attacked Ami, because their parents gossiped and Ami would undoubtedly tattle on her should she dare to fight back. _‘Just tear them all to shreds, Shannaro! Rip off their faces and gouge out their eyeballs with a spoon!’_

Sakura blinked. _When had Inner gotten so graphic? So violent?_

_‘Some bitch keeps pulling off our skin and hurting us,’ _Inner snarled. _‘Why can’t we do the same to them?’_

Because it was wrong. So very wrong. _Perfect girls weren’t—_

_‘Who gives a flying monkey about being perfect?’ _Inner hissed. _‘It’s wrong what our stepmother is doing to us. You know that, you just don’t want to admit it, Shannaro!’ _

“You stupid bitch!” Ami hissed, slapping her across the face, pulling her thoughts away from Inner and her violent tendencies. “You’re supposed to listen when I’m talking to you.”

“Ami-chan?”

Sakura froze, dread seeping into her stomach as Kazumi, Fuki, and the others of Ami’s little clique rounded the corner – no doubt having heard their esteemed leader shouting at her. No one else had come, no adults of any sort having bothered to come and rescue her…

_‘You really think someone’s gonna rescue us, Saku?’ _Inner spoke, anger having faded from her voice, and she sounded resigned. _‘I told you already. Fairy-tales don’t exist. Nobody is gonna save us from this… not unless we do something.’_

Fear of the basement paralysed her though, and she screwed her eyes shut, ignoring the jeers from one of the girls whose names she couldn’t quite remember. “Cry-baby,” the voice said, and then a fist was planting itself in her gut. Sakura doubled over, eyes still screwed shut as small hands pushed her to the ground. A foot planted itself in her stomach, another stomping down on the side of her face before she curled up, shielding her face and chest from the worst of the beating as they descended on her like dogs fighting over the last scrap of meat.

_Why did they hate her? _Sakura curled up that much tighter, hoping they would lose interest soon. _Why didn’t they understand she couldn’t…? Because her stepmother would only make it hurt that much more if she wasn’t perfect… if she dared to attack them, and make them complain to their parents…_

Inner stayed silent that time.

Sakura sighed, hating the coppery taste in her mouth and the sudden sharp ache which flared in her chest as she felt something _snap. _No doubt she had disappointed Inner, what with her overwhelming fear of a small, dark room, and the cold table she would be tied to in the darkness there. _But if that was what it took to survive… _She just needed to hold out a little longer. _Once she graduated she would be free… Everything would be fine then. _A thin smile curved at her lips, quickly vanishing as her hand started aching. _Just like her ribs were. _

It wasn’t as bad as what her stepmother would do. It was a different sort of pain. One much more bearable. One she could put up with if it meant avoiding the inevitable fallout retaliating against the girls would bring. _It would be fine. She would be fine. _

_She could survive a little longer._

_‘Can you really?’ _Inner asked, her voice so much smaller than what she was used to. She was used to an angry Inner shouting about how she was going to punch everyone. She was used to Inner being slightly disappointed when she didn’t act that way. She was used to it.

A rock bounced off the alley walls, ricocheting with enough noise to make the beating stop, and a vaguely familiar voice which Sakura couldn’t quite place rang out. “What exactly do you kids think you’re doing there?” the male voice bellowed. _The man clearly had quite the set of lungs on him – he could probably match Inner for a screaming match._

_‘Well, would you look at that?’ _Inner remarked, mocking and loathing in her voice as she spoke. Sakura flinched at the tone. She didn’t remember Inner speaking like that before. _‘Looks like our knight in shining armour has finally arrived…’_

Sakura flinched again. _Fairy-tales weren’t real. _

_‘We have to save ourselves, idiot.’_

Footsteps echoed down the alleyway, the presences surrounding her vanishing as they skittered away from the loud man. _The same person who’d saved her. _Though she was supposed to be capable of saving herself. She curled up into a tighter ball with a whimper, freezing when she felt the hum of the man’s loud chakra move that much closer.

“And here I thought they were kicking something else,” the man muttered, and Sakura cracked an eye open from behind her aching hand, peering through the gap between her fingers. “You still conscious there?” Uchiha Madara asked, coal black eyes staring down at her as concern bubbled in his chakra. “Wait a minute.” He paused then, squinting at her then. “You’re Sasuke-chan’s little friend,” he said. “Your name was… Tsubaki? No… some sort of flower, ugh.” He bit his lip. “Erotic literature girl…” He tilted his head then, and Sakura decided to spare herself then from any further guesses of her name. _At least he had remembered it was something floral. _Proof she wasn’t just a good-for-nothing whose name would fade into history. _Just like her mother’s._

“I’m fine,” she said, pushing herself to her hands and knees – the danger passed – wincing as pain spiked from her right hand.

One black eyebrow rose. “Those fingers are broken,” he said, staring down at her misshapen fingers, one hand reaching out to steady her by the shoulder, the other moving to her chest, prodding clinically at her ribs. “I heard more than one bone go,” he remarked, a grim expression on his face when she inhaled sharply as pain rang through her ribs at his touch. “Yeah. You have some broken ribs too.” Sakura coughed then, spitting out a mouthful of blood along with a dislodged tooth. “And a missing tooth now too,” Madara continued, lips curling into a smile. “Which means”—his hands shifted from their steadying grip on her, lifting her up from the ground before she could voice a protest—“it’s time for a visit to the hospital for you.”

Ice shot through her chest. _Her stepmother’s shift would be starting soon at the hospital. _“No,” she said suddenly, her one good hand fisting in the high collar of the purplish mantle he wore. “No hospital,” she demanded, fear making her heart pound that much faster. _If her mother found out… it would all be her fault. Because she hadn’t been a good enough friend to Ami. _The thought made her lips curl down in disgust. _That was what her stepmother would say… because whenever anything went wrong she was always the one who had to take the blame. _

Madara arched an eyebrow at her, as if daring her to try and order him around, and Sakura scrambled to think of a legitimate excuse to avoid the hospital and the pain it promised to bring later when it was just she and her stepmother at home.

“I need to go to the academy,” she said, frantic as she scrambled for a way to minimise the pain. _She just needed to survive, and the less pain she was in, the happier she would be. _“I can’t miss any lessons.” Her hand was still fisted in his collar, terror making her own chakra roil about in her chest. “I want to see Naruto and Sasuke too.”

Madara sighed softly. “Sasuke-chan, huh…” he mumbled, tilting his head as he weighed up her words, chakra spiking suddenly in anticipation as he turned on his heel – heading now for the academy instead of the hospital. “Well then, let’s get you to the academy… though I do hope you know, you’ll be heading straight to the medical wing,” he said, leaping up onto the rooftops.

Her hand curled that much tighter in the collar of his mantle, green eyes drinking in the sight of Konoha she had never managed to get a glimpse of. _But she’d get more glimpses of it once she became a shinobi. _They always used the rooftops to get around. The view then would be hers to enjoy whenever.

Wind ruffled her hair, Madara’s gait smooth as he carried her to the academy – and straight to the medical wing, as promised. Sakura blinked, gaze finding the red eyes which narrowed when they spied her there. Sakura supposed she looked fairly awful, _what with just having been beaten by the girls who’d so sweetly called her a friend when they were younger and their parents were watching. _

“What happened?” Tobirama demanded, and Sakura tilted her head as she realised that was why Madara had been so willing to come to the academy’s medical wing instead of dragging her sorry backside over to the hospital.

“Bullying, at least that’s what it seemed like,” he answered, setting her down on the nearest cot. “Her fingers are broken, at least a couple of ribs as well, oh, and she’s now missing a tooth too,” Madara said, carefully lifting her more mangled hand for his husband to view. “She was also rather insistent on coming to the academy, so you probably ought to let Naru-chan and Sasuke-chan know she’s here… since she’ll likely be in here for most of the day.”

Tobirama frowned. “And the ones who did this?”

“She would know better than me,” he said, glancing down at her once more with those coal black eyes. _They might have been darker than her stepmother’s but they were so much warmer._

_‘They’re looking at you,’ _Inner spoke. _‘Aren’t you gonna tell on those bitches? Shannaro, you’d better!’_

Sakura snorted. _And Inner had been the one saying she needed to defend herself… _She shook her head. Tattling on them wouldn’t do her any good. _They would just complain to their parents. To their mothers._

_And perfect girls weren’t meant to be tattletales._

Inner scoffed.

Her shoulders sunk, hating the self-loathing which curled in her gut then. _Even Inner thought she was stupid. _Fingernails dug into her skin, and Sakura buried her face in her knees, ignoring the pain in her chest all the while.

_‘You’re not stupid,’ _Inner muttered gruffly. _‘You’re just trying your best to survive, Sakura. Though I do wish you’d hurry up and rip that bitch to shreds, and take that little bitch from earlier along with her…’_

“Thanks,” she murmured.

_Inner was always in her corner of the ring. _She would be. From then until Sakura finally found her feet. _Until she became a genin and escaped from that house. _It wouldn’t be long. Sakura could almost taste the freedom.

* * *

“SAKURA!” Naruto came into the room in a blur of yellow and orange. “Are you alright?”

“Dobe, keep it down!” Sasuke hissed, swallowing at the look Tobirama-sensei gave the pair of them as they hurried over to the bed she lay on. “Otherwise Tobirama-sensei will kick us out.”

“Nah.” Naruto waved a hand flippantly. “Old man Tobi wouldn’t do that to us. He knows how much we care ‘bout Sakura! Though it’s a shame we can’t sneak out and get ramen. That’s the best thing for when you’re feeling poorly,” he said matter-of-factly.

Sakura smiled, sitting up slowly, Sasuke’s small hand helping her there as they both clambered atop the bed. Coal black eyes so alike Madara’s stared at her, scanning her injuries from head to toe, a frown pulling at his lips when he spied the extent of them.

“Who did this to you?” he asked, eyes narrowed.

Naruto blinked, setting his bento down on the sheets in front of them. “Someone did this to you?” Naruto enquired, sky blue eyes widening. “Who would want to be mean to her though? She’s really nice…”

Sasuke scowled, chewing on his lips as he sat there, deep in thought. “Maybe fangirls?” he offered, a serious expression on his tiny face. “Nii-san did say they’re terrible, rabid creatures whom we should all stay very far away from…”

“Wait, so you mean this is our fault?” Naruto asked, mouth popping open.

Sakura shook her head then. “No. It’s not,” she said firmly. “I was just… in the wrong time at the wrong place,” she finished, staring down at her own bento as she felt Tobirama’s red eyes boring into the side of her head. _He had all but demanded to know who had been the ones to do this to her. _They were taught to fight at the academy so violence was expected here and there. But violence against future comrades was frowned upon. Verily so. _That didn’t mean she was about to tattle on Ami though._

_They would complain, and perfect girls weren’t meant to tattle on their so-called friends. Sakura had to be perfect. There was no other option for her – _so bearing Tobirama’s meaningful and disappointed stares it was.

She let out a long breath, ignoring the sceptical look Sasuke was also wearing as he stared at her. Sakura was just glad Madara wasn’t there too. _There would have only been more pressure on her to tell if he was… because he was a perfect shinobi. _Someone she silently aspired to be like strength wise at the very least.

“We should probably walk with you to school then,” Sasuke said, still staring at her, but seemingly willing to let her keep her secrets.

Sakura felt her heart pound. _Her mother didn’t know about them yet… she didn’t know she was friends with boys… or that one of them was the Hokage’s son. _She swallowed. _Her mother had made her swear to stay away from the Yamanaka girl already for one reason or another… _“Maybe we could meet at the end of my street,” she offered.

“Acceptable,” Sasuke said, cutting off Naruto’s protests before they could take shape. “But on another note, are the pair of you free tomorrow afternoon?” he asked, folding his arms and glaring off to the side. “It’s just that my kaa-chan wishes to meet the two people I spend the most of my time with here.”

“Friends,” Naruto chimed in. “Your _friends, _teme.”

“Hn.”


	8. Home

Sakura hummed quietly, skipping her way down the street, trying to enthuse some sort of happiness into each step. _A perfect façade. _That was what she needed to uphold until she was free. Until she was safely away from her stepmother and all the pain she brought. _Besides, she had permission to visit her friend’s home – wrangled from her mother’s grasp by claiming that friends were meant to go around to visit each other. _She was simply maintaining her mask of perfection by doing as such, because really it would be quite odd if she kept to herself too much. People might think her odd. They might have thought something was wrong.

She had managed to twist those words against her stepmother, and she had paid the price in the basement later. Though she had been going to the basement anyway, thanks to Ami and her big mouth, so she had made of it what she could. She’d managed to avoid stuttering too – something she was grateful for. Her stepmother preyed on weakness, and she could scent it like a shark scented blood in the water.

So Sakura avoided her whenever possible but tried not to show weakness before the lady when she had to face her. She mustered her courage for those nerve-wracking moments when it mattered, but there was only so much courage she could scrape together to face her stepmother. Face the music her actions had wrought. _But she couldn’t help the screams when she was in the basement. She couldn’t help the whimpers which accompanied the sound of bone snapping, and the metallic scent which lingered in the air long after her stepmother had finished for the night. _

But she wasn’t going to focus on those memories, because she was free, just for a little while. She was going to Sasuke’s home after the academy day was over, and she was excited for it. _Dimly, she wondered if Sasuke ever had gotten hit by his parents over something or another, she wondered still if maybe she wasn’t overreacting. _She tilted her head as she mulled over her thoughts of what was normal for a family that wasn’t hers. _Children weren’t hit as much as she was, _she was figuring out ever so slowly.

Kushina had been really nice when Sakura had been over with Naruto. She was pretty, no matter how much the red hair reminded her of her stepmother. Sakura had tried her hardest not to dwell on it, just like she tried not to dwell on what was meant to be normal for a family. _It only made her chest hurt for some reason and brought up an odd longing. _

But she and Inner both knew she was longing for something she could never have – _loving _parents. Fairy-tales didn’t exist, so there would be no happy ever after for her there. _Not least until she managed to claw her way out of that house. _She was counting the years down until she turned twelve. _Until she became an adult in the eyes of Konoha… well, so long as she didn’t drop out of the academy. _Sakura had no plans on doing just that.

Becoming a shinobi was tantamount to freedom.

She just needed to endure until then. Her pain tolerance was already marvellous according to Iruka-sensei. _Like that book she had read said: in every cloud there was a silver lining. _No matter how painful her silver lining was.

* * *

“Ah, you must be Sakura-chan,” Sasuke’s mother exclaimed as she took off her shoes, facing them the correct way around. Uchiha were traditional, or so she had heard. _She had to obey customs there. _Though really, from her cheery welcome, Sakura had decided she wouldn’t have minded staying there permanently. There or Naruto’s house.

_Just a fairy-tale, _she reminded herself, even as she bowed in greeting. “It’s nice to meet you, Uchiha-san. Thank you for having me,” she said, nervously peering up at the pretty black-haired woman. Her fuzzy stuff radiated only warmth, amusement, and happiness.

Sakura decided she liked Uchiha Mikoto right then and there. She was a good sort, and her fuzzy stuff’s mood was practically contagious. Better than her stepmother’s anyhow.

“Your brother has his friend over too,” she informed Sasuke right then and there. “But the garden is currently free, if you’d prefer not to disturb them.”

Sasuke made a face at that, before he turned to them, waving over at a set of doors nearby. “We’ll hang out in the garden then,” he decided, leading the pair of them through the house and out onto the engawa and the garden beyond.

And what a garden it was.

At least five times the size of her own back garden, the back of it cut off by a river which seemed to flow through the middle of the Uchiha Compound. There was a little dock to it, which Sasuke soon explained was where they went to learn and practice their fireball jutsu – over the river, so nothing would catch alight and cause a fire within the Uchiha Compound. Sakura supposed, as a fire-natured clan, they had to be careful of such incidents.

The river wasn’t the only source of water there though, and Sakura could only smile as she spied the numerous koi swimming in the large pool. It was pretty, very pretty, Sakura decided, though she couldn’t really compare it to Naruto’s garden because she had yet to venture out into his. The view she had managed to get from the glass doors had been impressive in a different way though.

But if Naruto’s home was lovably haphazard, then Sasuke’s was neat and orderly. Two different styles, each of them as suited to the people before her as they were. She would never be able to show them around her house. Her mother would never allow it, lest someone spy a bloodstain she hadn’t cleaned up, or somehow discovered the door to the basement. Nobody aside from her mother and, unfortunately, her were allowed into the basement.

Sakura didn’t want to risk Naruto and Sasuke, nor did she want her mother to find out exactly who she was friends with. _She didn’t want to be cut off from them. _Because there were only so many ways she could defy her stepmother, especially with Ami and her pack of friends reporting everything to their parents. Her heart thudded in her chest then. _What if she already knew? _Sakura swallowed harshly. _What if it was a test? What if she was supposed to come clean about who she was friends with? _

“Sakura-chan?” Blue eyes cropped up in her vision, far too close for comfort.

Stumbling back, her backside hit the ground with a muted thud, and she could only blink as Naruto hovered about in front of her, a look of worry written across his face as he peered down at her.

“You OK?” he asked, and Sakura nodded shakily.

_What a terrible time to get distracted… _She was there, safe, with her friends, and she wanted to enjoy her time with them, so not getting bogged down with thoughts and worries about her stepmother it was.

“I’m fine,” she said, pulling herself back up to her feet. _If her mother asked about her new friends, she would have to answer truthfully. _Sakura only hoped she didn’t. They were hers and she wanted to keep them. Maybe it was selfish, but she didn’t want to lose them.

Not after she had finally gotten a hold of a good thing.

**Author's Note:**

> Here's to hoping I didn't make the abuse too cliche or overdramatic. I've never liked it when I read fanfics where somebody's father or mother starts beating them and organising some severe extremes of torture after the tiny most miniscule thing. Like a mother saving their baby from a collapsing building, dying in the process, and then the father comes back and literally builds a torture chamber practically to torment his daughter for being the cause of death of his wife... like seriously WTF... Sakura here doesn't have anything to do with her mother's death (so that cliche is avoided) but she looks too much like her, so when her drunken father sees the woman he's began to hate for leaving him all alone... violence happens. Then red lady happens, and she has her own reasons for hating on Sakura. This entire thing I've written would've happened relatively slowly over the course of about a year maybe half.
> 
> I tried to make this a mix of physical and psychological abuse of sorts, and I hope that was successful, (no matter how horrible that sounds) if not... I suppose it won't be the end of the world if not. Oh, and there's probably worse in store for Sakura just yet. The non-con and underage warnings are there for a reason. There's a darker side to Konoha, though her father WILL NOT be involved in that. Trust me. I draw the line somewhere.
> 
> Sporadic Updates - like all the rest of my WIPS


End file.
